


Seven Days in Love

by babywarg (morphaileffect)



Series: Ironstrange Bingo [22]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Actually a lot of alternate universes, Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, Hurt Stephen Strange, M/M, Romance, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21909538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morphaileffect/pseuds/babywarg
Summary: In the last few days, Tony had fallen asleep a number of times. He always woke up a different Tony Stark.But each Anthony Edward Stark was in love with some form or another of Stephen Vincent Strange.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Ironstrange Bingo [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1291997
Comments: 14
Kudos: 166
Collections: IronStrange Bingo 2019





	Seven Days in Love

**Author's Note:**

> This work attempts to tie together my other works. Links to related stories can be found in the "Day X" subheadings. But for easier reference, an index can be found in the End Note.
> 
> For the Ironstrange Bingo square "Fresh."

_Day One_

Stephen reluctantly woke to Wong’s voice calling his name.

He was still recovering from yesterday’s difficult battle; what could possibly be so urgent as to sacrifice his invaluable rest time for --

“It’s Tony Stark,” Wong announced.

Stephen bolted out of bed.

***

He opened a portal to the Avengers’ compound in upstate New York.

The first people he saw were Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers.

“What’s wrong with him?” Stephen asked.

“Doc,” Bruce Banner tried to greet.

“What’s wrong with him?” Stephen said again, urgently.

The two looked at each other. Steve Rogers drew a deep sigh.

“See for yourself,” he grimly answered.

He led Stephen to a secure area of the compound, which served as a sort of brig.

***

Tony was there.

He was pacing the sealed, sterile room, fidgeting, looking around. Very clearly, his brain was working on overdrive.

“He’s been asking for you by name, but he’s been saying some...weird things in addition.” The upset was clear in Steve’s voice. “Wouldn’t calm down. We’d already drugged him and he fell asleep, but he was agitated again when he woke up.”

“We don’t want to give him any more sedatives,” Bruce supplied.

“Let me talk to him,” Stephen said quietly. He was determined to sound like he knew what he was doing.

They let him into the room with Tony. Tony’s entire face brightened up as he walked in.

“My lord!” Tony exclaimed, right before running up to Stephen and falling to one knee in front of him.

He took Stephen’s hands, kissed them. His grip on Stephen’s hands afterwards was so very tight.

“You came for me.” Tony’s eyes were wet with tears of gratitude. “I knew you’d come for me.”

Stephen stood motionless, his face unreadable. Behind him, outside the door, Steve and Bruce stared, uncertain if they should step in.

Both spectators were only certain of two things: there was no harm imminent.

This was just so very _weird_.

Tony seemed to interpret Stephen’s silence as contempt. The contempt of a superior.

He dropped his gaze and began to stammer.

“My lord...I know, I know I am but a humble armorsmith, but...”

“Who is it that you think I am?” Stephen asked, as gently as he could.

Tony stared up at him in complete surprise and befuddlement.

“The most powerful sorcerer in the twelve realms,” he soon answered, slowly. “Is this a test, my lord?”

***

“Tony’s mind has been flung across parallel universes.” Stephen had rejoined Tony’s confused and anxious friends outside. He had finished assuring Tony that he was in the sterile room for safety...and that he would not be kept there long. “This must have happened during the last fight. The one I’d asked the Avengers _not to interfere in_ ," he acidly stressed.

This was what had happened: Tony Stark had learned that Doctor Strange was fighting an interdimensional evil threatening to eat up the world, starting from New York...and he gathered the Avengers to help, even if Doctor Strange had _expressly_ warned him and his team to steer clear.

And Tony had done it to save New York.

Just that. No other reason.

This foolhardy act cost Tony his psychic foothold on this universe. And now his consciousness was bouncing unmoored between parallel universes.

“You mean alternate dimensions?” Bruce ventured.

“Not dimensions,” Stephen proceeded to explain. “Dimensions are different planes of existence. Parallel universes are different versions of the same existence. Other ways that the same lives could turn out.”

“How can you be sure that’s what’s happening to him?” Steve Rogers demanded. “It could just be delusion. Some sort of brain damage.”

“It’s not,” Stephen sighed. “I know the universe he’s talking about. He mentioned the ‘twelve realms.’ There’s only one reality where that exists.”

“He wasn’t talking about those ‘twelve realms’ earlier this morning, though,” Bruce pointed out. “He was saying something about...what was it again?”

“About,” Steve said tentatively, “finding you and Peter Parker and bringing you back...before some guy named Thanos destroys everything.”

That was it, Stephen said aloud: that confirmed it. There was a parallel universe that had an alien superbeing named Thanos. A villain of literally cosmic proportions.

And if Tony’s brain was in this universe before he slept...it would appear that he jumped universes between naps.

It was obviously a magic matter. And magic was Stephen’s department.

He managed to convince both of Tony’s worried friends that the Sanctum was the safest place for Tony to be. At least, while he was looking up ways to fix it.

***

_[Day Two](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20405461) _

As it turned out, the biggest challenge that came with keeping Tony Stark at the Sanctum was keeping him occupied.

On the second day, Tony was restless. He kept talking about his machines. He talked about not being able to be away from them. From Stark Industries. A lot of people were waiting on him.

Pepper Potts was not in his life in that other universe. He ran his company hands-on - which was ironic to Stephen for two reasons.

One: because the Tony Stark of his reality was not known to have the patience for day-to-day corporate dealings.

Two: because in that other universe, his hands were barely functional.

It was mainly psychosomatic, now. His hands shook even if there was nothing physically wrong with them. He had just been with them shaking for so long, Tony felt uneasy whenever he noticed they weren't. He kept asking for gloves, but fussed even after he got them.

This new Tony had no idea who Iron Man was. And why Stephen was dressed the way he was. And where the fuck they were. Wasn’t Stephen supposed to be at work, in the hospital?

Of course he knew who Stephen was. Stephen was the man he was seeing. Had been seeing for over a month now.

“But seriously, dude,” Tony remarked, shaking his head as he eyed Stephen from head to toe, “if I knew this was a kink of yours, I might’ve doubled back, yanno?”

“Would you have done that, Tony, really?” Stephen challenged.

Tony sighed loudly in frustration and threw his hands up. “Maybe not. I dunno. I’d be lying if I said this look didn’t suit you.”

Stephen tried to tell him what was going on. Tony wouldn’t believe him. He still thought Stephen was telling an elaborate joke.

Stephen just kept saying it wasn’t, until Tony got tired of arguing.

At least the exchange calmed him down some.

But at the end of it, he laid his palm on Stephen’s chest, looked deep into his eyes, asked very softly:

“How’s your heart?”

***

_[Day Three](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20775794) _

When Tony woke on the third day, the very first thing he did was kiss Stephen on the cheek.

The next was to ask where Morgan and Pepper were.

Apparently, the world where this Tony came from was one of the many where he was married, with a child.

 _One_ child. Not more than that. One that he was dutifully parenting with his wife.

And husband.

“I also need to know why I’m here, love,” Tony said to Stephen. “The last thing I remember was falling asleep in the library.”

“Which library?” Stephen asked. Tony looked at him incredulously.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked, in all seriousness. “The one in our cabin. By the lake. You know. The one we go home to?”

He knew about the New York Sanctum. Knew about Stephen’s job as its master. He just couldn’t understand why he was there, with Stephen, when he should have been home.

“Was I not spending enough time with you?” He threw his arms around Stephen’s neck. “Was that why you brought me here?” Leaned in for a kiss.

Stephen knew he shouldn’t have been uncomfortable. Tony didn’t know better. But Stephen simply couldn’t fake affection. At least the kind of affection Tony expected from him, at that time.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t attracted to Tony Stark.

Far from it.

It was that he _was_.

“...Stephen?” Tony asked after him, as he quietly walked away.

He needed to find a way to bring Tony’s mind back to this universe, fast.

***

_[Day Four](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315923) _

This day brought on another panic attack.

Because this world was _nothing_ like the one Tony had just left.

He had gone to sleep a king. A king with two children. A wife. A consort.

A consort who looked exactly like the man standing before him now - in attire that was similar to the casual robes he wore at home.

Except wearier. Sadder.

And unrecognizing.

Getting Tony to talk was a good way to get him to simmer down. That, or giving him something to tinker with - which seemed to work across all universes.

Stephen had already prepared a robotics lab in the Sanctum for Tony to spend time in - a simulacrum of his lab in the Avengers compound - so he could be left alone for most of the day to continue his research.

But Tony had to be coaxed into it. It wasn’t enough to show him shiny tech stuff which probably didn’t exist in his world. He had to be _convinced_.

(Or tricked - whichever method got him out of Stephen’s hair.)

In the process, Stephen got him talking. That way, he found out more things about the world each new Tony was from.

“There’s something even the smallest child knows,” this Tony proceeded to say. “If someone shares their mother-name with you, that name stays with you. For good. It becomes part of you. And by keeping the name safe, you have a hold on the person who gave it away.”

Stephen seriously, seriously doubted that this concept carried across universes. But he was willing to give it a shot, if it was necessary.

“Say my name,” this Tony - King Stark of Aven - commanded.

Stephen obeyed.

The King was silent for a long time. His brown eyes brimmed over with questions.

Finally he touched Stephen’s cheek.

“It’s you,” he remarked. “But not you.” He turned away, arms wrapped around himself, anxious and lost. “I don’t understand.”

***

_[Day Five](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19071118) _

This day brought a kiss on the lips.

He was a prince, in this one. In fact, he was royalty in many of the universes in which he existed.

No matter his status, Tony was often a mechanic, or a smith of some kind - a creator, at any rate. Often abusive of toxic substances. Almost always a _touch_ self-important.

(There was one time when he was a wordsmith, in a universe that resembled Ancient Rome with airships. His wine-soaked rhymes brought about a revolution, the fall of an empire. He was, of course, extremely proud of himself for it.)

But Stephen was fascinated by how Tony’s mind only jumped into universes where they were together.

In the course of five days, Tony had fallen asleep a number of times. He always woke up a different Tony Stark.

But each Anthony Edward Stark was in love with some form or another of Stephen Vincent Strange.

Finally realizing this helped Stephen get a better sense of what he had to do. Tony might not have intended it, but mind-jumping _only_ into those universes gave Stephen an important clue.

Each universe has a unique “code.” And if Stephen could see the pattern set by the “codes”, cast the right combination of spells, Stephen could intercept Tony’s mind before it jumped into the next one.

A bit more study, some careful planning, and he would be able to bring the right Tony home.

Stephen had needed to explain the situation again to this Tony. And this Tony had downright ignored it. And kissed him.

To Stephen’s surprise, he didn’t break away.

It must have been the proximity. Having Tony so near him for so long. Fawning over him. Being so comfortable in his presence. Relaxing in his company, as if Tony was a lifeline thrown into the turbulent waters of his own mind.

At the end of the kiss, they looked at each other.

And Stephen felt like he was looking into the eyes of someone who had been with him for a long, long time.

“Which one do you think I am?” Stephen asked, to check if the prince understood.

The prince touched Stephen’s chin. Smiled at him.

“The one who’s mine,” the prince readily answered. “The one I belong to.”

***

_[Day Six](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19170928) _

This day was especially harrowing.

He had become used to warm Tony. Affectionate Tony. Tony who didn’t hesitate to throw his arms around Stephen or steal a kiss or write a goddamn song about the shape of Stephen’s eyebrows and how they turn him on.

He had come to like that Tony. All the versions of him.

But then, along came this one.

This one was...calculating. Cold like a marble statue. Distant, yet mesmerizing, like the light of a supernova.

This one had tried to devise a way to stay.

So Stephen had had to devise a way to contain him. It had been a rough battle, and he almost didn’t win.

Still catching his breath, nursing his injuries, Stephen sat outside the large magical cage which contained Tony.

And tried to tell him about how he belonged in a different story, and how another Tony had to return to this one.

“If every universe is a story,” this Tony reasoned, “I should be able to leave my story and start a new one.”

“That’s not how it works.”

Tony’s head tilted to the right, ever so slightly, as he looked into Stephen’s eyes with unsettling steadiness.

“I may not know how it works, Doc, but _you_ do. You can make it so I can stay, right?”

“You’re asking me to be the villain in your story,” Stephen carefully explained. “To deprive everyone in your universe of you. Why would you want that, anyway? Boredom? Resentment? If I understand you correctly - in your universe, you have achieved the peak of perfection.”

“I don’t want perfection,” was the simple answer. “I want to be with you.”

_I want to be with you._

There wasn’t even much emotion there.

But in Stephen’s weakened state, it hit him the hardest. Harder than any promise, any kiss.

“Tony. Every universe you’re in is all the better for you being in it. Each universe has a chance at redemption because you’re there.”

Brown eyes studied Stephen’s face. Looking for signs of insincerity, perhaps. Or signs of ignorance. Stephen was confident that neither would show.

“Besides,” he tried to joke, “what about the version of me who exists in your world? Won’t he miss you?”

This Tony smiled. A cold, heartless smile.

“He doesn’t need me,” he ominously answered. “But I can make it so that _you_ will.”

***

_[Day Seven](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19424302) _

“I love you.”

Stephen already felt fractured. Living under the same roof as someone who had feelings for him across parallel universes, who couldn’t seem to understand that there was as yet nothing between them in this one...exhausted him, complicated his studies.

He would have arrived at a cure earlier. If he had not been distracted. If he had not been fending off unwitting advances and suffering heartbroken looks (and, in one instance, stopping Tony from taking over the world) and dealing with his own turbulent emotions at the same time.

But just when he thought he had been broken enough, the words were finally said:

_I love you._

This Tony had been broken, too.

This one was afraid to sleep.

He came with the ability to understand what Stephen said about living different lives fresh after waking up. He had a dream once, where he and Stephen were together. He woke up in love with someone he had never met.

He thought he was back in his dream-world - the one where his lover had said goodbye.

So, in a sense, this Tony was already familiar with what was going on.

“I know I’ve never said that,” Tony miserably continued. “But in case I fall asleep, I think you should know.”

“Wrong.”

Stephen was surprised by how sad he sounded. It earned him a look of concern from this Tony.

“You’re wrong,” he explained. “You’ve said it to me several times in the course of seven days. In different ways. Not always in those words.”

He watched as Tony struggled to absorb this information.

“I can’t say it back,” Stephen softly admitted, “not yet. But wait for me. One day, we’ll meet each other halfway.”

Sleepless brown eyes filled with desperate tears.

Tony gripped Stephen’s shoulders tightly.

“No. Say it now,” he pleaded. “I don’t have time. If I go to sleep, I may not find my way back.”

“Sleep.” Stephen laid a trembling hand on the back of Tony’s neck. The tips of his fingers touched Tony’s hair. “I’ll say it to the next you.”

Hearing this relaxed Tony somewhat. Even if it might have been a lie. Even if he would never be around to know if it was.

What mattered was that for the first time in seven days, it was Stephen who kissed Tony first.

***

_Day Eight_

Tony woke in a room in the New York Sanctum the next day, with an exhausted sorcerer sleeping on the sofa chair near his bed.

“The fuck,” he said aloud. Stephen, ever the light sleeper, immediately woke.

“Tony...?”

“Doc.” He looked down at himself, doing a quick visual inspection. “What happened? Is this your house? How long was I out?”

Stephen quickly strode to his bedside. Touched his face.

“Whoa.” Tony pulled away. “Bit too close, aren’t we?”

He couldn’t understand the crushed look on Stephen’s face after he said that.

“I need to look into your eyes,” the sorcerer simply said. “And I need you to answer a few questions for me.”

Since both could be done without touching of any kind, Stephen respectfully kept his distance from that point on.

Stephen asked him things that only Tony in this universe would know. Things like his time in Afghanistan, the Avengers, his relationship with Pepper Potts, his father, his armor.

And lastly: what he remembered of the past seven days.

Tony answered everything correctly.

Even that last one, where the only correct answer was “nothing.”

It had worked. The spells he cast had worked. He had found the right Tony, brought him home.

And all his tired mind could think of was the promise he made to the last wrong Tony.

But it was not the right time. He didn’t know if there was ever going to be a right time.

This Tony was not in love with him.

May never be.

Knowing he had been out of his mind - literally - for seven days threw Tony into a panic. He needed to get home right away. Tell Pepper he was okay. See whatever mischief the Avengers had been up to without him (“Not even our good Mr. Rogers can keep that rowdy bunch in line all by himself.”).

Stephen sat silently on the bed as his guest rambled.

Finally, Tony asked if he needed to call Happy to drive him home, or if Stephen could open some sort of magic portal thingy for him.

In answer, Stephen softly said: “Will you at least stay to have breakfast with me?”

The way he asked made Tony stop.

“Why in the world would I do that?” he wondered aloud.

Stephen grunted. Tony imagined it sounded less like a bitter laugh, more like a punch to the gut.

“No reason,” Stephen replied, without the anticipated snark. “I’ll be seeing you, Stark.”

He made a gesture with one shaking hand, and a portal opened in the middle of the bedroom. Tony muttered a quick “Thanks,” and decided he didn’t need to spend another second there.

As he stepped in, he heard Stephen whisper, “Meet you halfway.”

But that didn’t make sense. And he wasn’t sure Stephen had meant for him to hear it.

Later, it would haunt him, those words and the last heartbroken look on Stephen’s face. He would need to get back in touch with Stephen, so he could try to make sense of it. But Tony had to put it out of his mind for the moment.

Seven days he was gone. There was so much to catch up on.

**Author's Note:**

> Day Two - [Stigmata](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20405461)  
> Day Three - [A History of Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20775794)  
> Day Four - [Saying Your Names](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315923)  
> Day Five - [The Prince and the Clocksmith](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19071118)  
> Day Six - [No Longer Human](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19170928)  
> Day Seven - [Hold Back the Night](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19424302)


End file.
